She doesn't make a sound when she sleeps, and her parents have to watch over her on a baby monitor camera.

And in place of cute gurgles and baby talk, there is silence. That's because the smiley tot had a life-or-death emergency tracheotomy at 10 weeks after she started turning blue and gasping for air. She is believed to be the second youngest in the country to have gone through the major operation.

It saved the little girl, who her family have nicknamed Tinkerbell after the fun-loving and mischievous fairy who never speaks in Peter Pan, but it means air can't pass through her voice box when the cuff connected to it is inflated.

Heartbreakingly, for her parents Kevin (34) and Jo (37) Ferreday of Howland, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, they may never hear her call them "mum and dad".

That fills them with sadness, but they say it is a small price to pay if it means they get a chance to see Cheyanne grow up.

The family's world was turned upside down when Cheyanne was just five weeks old.

They were at their GP's surgery, when she started wheezing in the waiting room.

She was rushed to Peterborough District Hospital where she was diagnosed with subglottal stenosis – a rare condition which leads to a narrowing of the airway below the vocal cords.

She was referred to Leicester Royal Infirmary where a camera was lowered down her throat to inspect the problem.

She was sent home with steroids to control her condition, but on May 24 last year, things took a turn for the worse. Cheyanne had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance after she couldn't breathe, and was later transferred back to Leicester.

There, she was put on a ventilator and medics told her devastated parents she would die if she didn't have the tracheotomy.

It is a delicate and invasive procedure which carries huge risks in young children, but there was no choice. After the two-hour surgery, doctors prepared Jo and Kevin for the worst.

Jo said: "The options were narrowing all the time, because the steroids hadn't worked. If she hadn't had it done, she wouldn't be here now.

"She couldn't get enough oxygen and was struggling to breathe. They first said she wouldn't make it through the night. Then it was the week, the month, and six months. Then it was her first birthday, and the doctors said she had proved them wrong.

"She's not out of the woods yet, but the statistics are better."

Kevin said: "The surgeon said Cheyanne was the youngest child he had done the operation on. There are a lot of risks, in the first few months, a lot of children pass away, but there were no other options."

As well as the condition, Cheyanne also has "spider-web"-like structures in her voice box, which have to be removed regularly. Now there could be a new battle for her to fight after specialists recently found a growth on her voice box, which could be cancerous.

On June 19, the family will travel to London to see specialists at the Great Ormond Street Hospital.